“It's quite logical that you would look to emulate it” - Red Bull F1 boss on teams imitating their car design 

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is not too surprised after seeing McLaren somewhat copy the RB19's concept to develop their car further. Since the Austrian-British team is dominating the sport with the RB19, driven by reigning world champion Max Verstappen, it is obvious that some teams will take a closer look at the leading car.

Speaking to the media after Verstappen's win in the 2023 F1 British GP, the Red Bull team principal stated how McLaren's MCL60 concept looked quite similar to the RB19's. He explained how he has seen this for the first time this season and how the orange British team has emulated the concept.

Horner said:

"It's a very similar concept; I was looking at the car [MCL60] on the grid. It's the first time we've really seen it this year, and you can see that the philosophy they've borrowed is very similar. They've chosen a similar path. It's flattering, isn’t it?"

Christian Horner feels that this was inevitable since their car is performing so well that other teams will surely be tempted to study it closely and implement some areas on their own machines. He praised McLaren's performance at Silverstone and is looking forward to seeing how the MCL60 performs on other upcoming tracks.

He concluded:

"It's inevitable that this will happen, and why wouldn't you? When you have a car that performs like ours, it's fairly logical that you look to emulate it, which some teams have chosen to do. Their performance at this circuit has been very strong but it will be very interesting to see how that pans out over the next few races."

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Red Bull rivals could close the gap faster in the second half of the 2023 F1 season, feels Christian Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels Red Bull rivals like Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and even McLaren will pick up the pace in their 2023 development. This is mainly because the reigning world champions are now shifting their focus to their 2024 F1 car.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said:

“The next races? For us there is already a lot of work aimed at next year, because we have very little time to use in the wind tunnel. So maybe you will see the other teams getting a bit closer in the second part of the season, because we don't have as much time to devote to development."

He added:

"The whole team is doing a fantastic job. It will be interesting to see the next races. Then after the summer break there will be time to figure out what to do. We are focused on this year, but clearly the design team has to think about next year.”

Red Bull is currently leading the constructors' championship with 411 points, more than 200 ahead of Mercedes, which is in second.